Healing Testimony of Renny Palmisano
“In May 2025, what I thought was just going to be a visit to the doctor for a bad stomachache turned out to be stage 3B ovarian cancer (carcinosarcoma of the ovary). Once I told my family, my mom and Dad took me to Blessed Seelos Center where I was fortunate enough to be prayed with using Blessed Seelos's cross. Starting that day, I prayed for his intercession and used blessed oil on the area.
Shortly after surgery was scheduled to perform a full hysterectomy and the removal of seven tumors, on the size of a cantaloupe attached to my right ovary. I continued to pray daily for his intercession. I was so scared of the unknown and the thought of losing my hair traumatized me.
Chemo began a month later. Getting stuck multiple times to find a vein led to me receiving a port in my chest—then came the blood clots and my blood counts getting so low that chemo had to be skipped one month—but I never stopped praying to Blessed Seelos, asking for his intercession.
In October 2025, I was finally able to ring the bell. My CT scan came back NEG, which means no evidence of disease. I was told that, from here on out, every three to four months I would need to come in for routine bloodwork (CA125, which means cancer antigen test) and a pelvic exam, and if anything concerning came up, we would do a CT scan. So, at that point, I had claimed a healing through the intercession of Blessed Seelos. I felt like I was getting stronger by the week; my hair was slowly coming back, and I was trying to accept this new version of myself.
In February 2026, I went in for the routine checkup, and everything looked great, so the person I had seen told me I could come in four months later, which leads me to my appointment in early July. I went in and mentioned to her that I was still experiencing some back pain that I just thought was side effects from chemo, and she explained that she didn't think I should still be dealing with that much pain that far post-chemo, so she was thinking we needed to order a CT scan this time. Then she performed the pelvic exam, and when she did, she felt something concerning, and it was quite painful for me as well.
The next day, the CT was done, and the results came back showing I was having a recurrence. She called me and told me that, unfortunately, I was looking at six months of chemo this time using two different drugs and that I would need to put my port back in. She told me she was ordering a PET scan to see exactly how much it had spread, and she would meet with a team of oncologists to come up with a plan for treatment.
Needless to say, I was devastated. I could not believe this was happening to me so soon after just finishing chemo nine months earlier. At this time, I did find out that my cancer is very rare, aggressive, and fast growing, which made this even more concerning and scary. When I told my om, she immediately said, "You need to tell people so they can pray." I really didn't want to share it with too many people just yet, but she was right. The more people you have praying and interceding for you the better.
Later that day, my mom mentioned to me that a man was going to be speaking at St. Anthony Church about St. Charbel. I had never heard of St. Charbel and wasn't going to go, but at the last minute, I decided to take a ride with her to listen to the presentation. When we got there, the first-class relic was at the altar where people could go and kneel to pray. I sat for a while in the pew, contemplating if I was going to go all the way to the altar to pray in front of the relic or not. At the last minute, I decided I would.
As I was kneeling in front of the relic, Deacon Mike came out to start the benediction, and it would have been very awkward for me to get up to go back to my spot right in the middle of the benediction. So, I stayed there on my knees in front of the relic and prayed for healing. When [the] benediction was over, I got up and went back to the pew, and I remember feeling really hot. I just thought it was a hot flash since I was going through surgical menopause, but I later found out from my mom that some people say that, during healing, they felt warm, so it's possible I was healed in that moment.
I left there that day with [St. Charbel's] holy card and oil and began asking for his intercession. I prayed his nine-day novena and blessed myself each day with the oil in the area of the recurrence, which was in both the left and right pelvic area and two large lymph nodes near my heart.
[The doctors' office] had a lot of trouble scheduling the PET scan because they were extremely overbooked, but they finally squeezed me in on July 24, which I later found out was St. Charbel's feast day. I don't think it was a coincidence that out of 365 of the year, his feast day fell on the day of my PET scan.
Six days later, my oncologist and I had a virtual appointment after she met with six oncologists to discuss what the plan would be. I am blessed to say they came to the conclusion that they don't think I will be needing chemo at this time because it looks to be inflammation and scar tissue. So, three weeks prior, the CT scan showed a recurrence, and now it's inflammation and scar tissue. I call it answered prayers through the intercession of St. Charbel.
I kept joking, telling people that he is known for 33,000 miracles, and I was going to be his 33,001st. I hope this story touches someone enough to realize how powerful prayer is; never give up on praying, even if the prayers are not always answered the way we want. God's plan is the best plan. Thank you, Lord, for loving me and giving me more time with my family.”
This Testimony was published in Mary’s Helper’s Newsletter, 2026 July & August Issue.
Renny was present at the installation ceremony of a First-Class Relic of Saint Sharbel at St. Anthony Catholic Church in Luling on July 12, 2026. The relic is now located at the altar of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Healing Chapel, where everyone is welcome to venerate it during chapel hours.
Shortly after surgery was scheduled to perform a full hysterectomy and the removal of seven tumors, on the size of a cantaloupe attached to my right ovary. I continued to pray daily for his intercession. I was so scared of the unknown and the thought of losing my hair traumatized me.
Chemo began a month later. Getting stuck multiple times to find a vein led to me receiving a port in my chest—then came the blood clots and my blood counts getting so low that chemo had to be skipped one month—but I never stopped praying to Blessed Seelos, asking for his intercession.
In October 2025, I was finally able to ring the bell. My CT scan came back NEG, which means no evidence of disease. I was told that, from here on out, every three to four months I would need to come in for routine bloodwork (CA125, which means cancer antigen test) and a pelvic exam, and if anything concerning came up, we would do a CT scan. So, at that point, I had claimed a healing through the intercession of Blessed Seelos. I felt like I was getting stronger by the week; my hair was slowly coming back, and I was trying to accept this new version of myself.
In February 2026, I went in for the routine checkup, and everything looked great, so the person I had seen told me I could come in four months later, which leads me to my appointment in early July. I went in and mentioned to her that I was still experiencing some back pain that I just thought was side effects from chemo, and she explained that she didn't think I should still be dealing with that much pain that far post-chemo, so she was thinking we needed to order a CT scan this time. Then she performed the pelvic exam, and when she did, she felt something concerning, and it was quite painful for me as well.
The next day, the CT was done, and the results came back showing I was having a recurrence. She called me and told me that, unfortunately, I was looking at six months of chemo this time using two different drugs and that I would need to put my port back in. She told me she was ordering a PET scan to see exactly how much it had spread, and she would meet with a team of oncologists to come up with a plan for treatment.
Needless to say, I was devastated. I could not believe this was happening to me so soon after just finishing chemo nine months earlier. At this time, I did find out that my cancer is very rare, aggressive, and fast growing, which made this even more concerning and scary. When I told my om, she immediately said, "You need to tell people so they can pray." I really didn't want to share it with too many people just yet, but she was right. The more people you have praying and interceding for you the better.
Later that day, my mom mentioned to me that a man was going to be speaking at St. Anthony Church about St. Charbel. I had never heard of St. Charbel and wasn't going to go, but at the last minute, I decided to take a ride with her to listen to the presentation. When we got there, the first-class relic was at the altar where people could go and kneel to pray. I sat for a while in the pew, contemplating if I was going to go all the way to the altar to pray in front of the relic or not. At the last minute, I decided I would.
As I was kneeling in front of the relic, Deacon Mike came out to start the benediction, and it would have been very awkward for me to get up to go back to my spot right in the middle of the benediction. So, I stayed there on my knees in front of the relic and prayed for healing. When [the] benediction was over, I got up and went back to the pew, and I remember feeling really hot. I just thought it was a hot flash since I was going through surgical menopause, but I later found out from my mom that some people say that, during healing, they felt warm, so it's possible I was healed in that moment.
I left there that day with [St. Charbel's] holy card and oil and began asking for his intercession. I prayed his nine-day novena and blessed myself each day with the oil in the area of the recurrence, which was in both the left and right pelvic area and two large lymph nodes near my heart.
[The doctors' office] had a lot of trouble scheduling the PET scan because they were extremely overbooked, but they finally squeezed me in on July 24, which I later found out was St. Charbel's feast day. I don't think it was a coincidence that out of 365 of the year, his feast day fell on the day of my PET scan.
Six days later, my oncologist and I had a virtual appointment after she met with six oncologists to discuss what the plan would be. I am blessed to say they came to the conclusion that they don't think I will be needing chemo at this time because it looks to be inflammation and scar tissue. So, three weeks prior, the CT scan showed a recurrence, and now it's inflammation and scar tissue. I call it answered prayers through the intercession of St. Charbel.
I kept joking, telling people that he is known for 33,000 miracles, and I was going to be his 33,001st. I hope this story touches someone enough to realize how powerful prayer is; never give up on praying, even if the prayers are not always answered the way we want. God's plan is the best plan. Thank you, Lord, for loving me and giving me more time with my family.”
This Testimony was published in Mary’s Helper’s Newsletter, 2026 July & August Issue.
Renny was present at the installation ceremony of a First-Class Relic of Saint Sharbel at St. Anthony Catholic Church in Luling on July 12, 2026. The relic is now located at the altar of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Healing Chapel, where everyone is welcome to venerate it during chapel hours.
